Kids At Risk: Which Communities Have the Shortest School Days?
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Teacher contracts in some Rhode Island cities and towns had teachers working 90 hours (and some cases, over 180 hours) longer than their colleagues in other communities during the 2010/2011 school year, according to a report issued by the Providence City Council’s Education Subcommittee earlier this year.
The report, which sought to compare the capital city’s teacher contract with contracts in other municipalities, found that Providence was below the state average in both elementary and secondary schools when it comes to the required work day of teachers.
But Providence wasn’t the only school district trailing behind communities like Burrillville, which, at 7:30 for both elementary and secondary schools, has the longest required hours in the state.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFor elementary schools, 15 districts, including East Providence, Johnston, Warwick, Central Falls and Pawtucket, fell below the statewide average of 6:39. For secondary schools, eight districts, including Narragansett, North Providence and Newport had required work days below the 6:40 statewide average.
By comparison, several communities, including Barrington, North Smithfield and Tiverton all required teachers to work at least seven hours.
More Learning Time
While there are wide discrepancies in the amount of required work time for teachers in different communities, the majority of districts keep similar hours when it comes to actual school instruction time. State law requires students to receive at least 330 minutes of instructional time per day, which does not include time for homeroom or lunch.
But the differences in required working hours of teachers does play a role when it comes to state-mandated common planning time, which requires teachers to spend at least an hour each week working in groups to assess student needs. In Providence last year, achieving common planning time meant sending middle and high school students home early every week for the duration of the school year.
Still, the required working hours in a contract does not come close to defining the amount of time a teacher puts into to his or her job each day, according to National Education Association of Rhode Island Government Relations Director Pat Crowley.
“The contractual length of a teachers work day only begins to capture the work she is responsible for,” Crowley said. “Given the ever growing set of burdens on 21st century educators a typical teacher works many hours before and after the normal school day.”
Extending The School Day
Despite a workload that often involves teachers paying out of pocket for classroom materials, the debate over whether to extend the school day for students (and teachers) is ongoing. In 2009, President Obama called for longer schools days and years in an effort to raise achievement levels, a suggestion the NEA said it was willing to support if current schedules could not be adjusted to reach certain goals.
“We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day,” Obama said at the time. “That calendar may have once made sense, but today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st century economy.”
According to a research report released by WestEd, the nonprofit youth advocacy organization, schools should consider adding a significant amount of time to the school year.
“To make a real difference in the depth and breadth of education, schools need to add hundreds of hours per year — not just a few minutes a day,” the report said. “While adding 10 minutes a day or an hour a week could help a little bit, it will not allow for whole school redesign; it will not resolve the unnecessary tension in today’s schedule between math and music, between sports and reading. We see some real impact in schools that add one hour per day but see even more results when the new schedule adds closer to two hours per day or even more.”
State Rep. Wanted Longer Kindergarten Day
The calls for extending the day have not gone unnoticed in Rhode Island. Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and various education reform groups supported the failed attempt to bring a Mayoral Academy to Cranston in part because it would have revamped the school day for hundreds of students in Cranston and Providence.
On Smith Hill this past year, one State Rep. also called for the implementation of full-day kindergarten across the state. Representative Roberto DaSilva said that a longer school day for students entering school has proved to raise achievement levels.
“I am calling for full-day kindergarten classes to start our children on the right path toward success,” he said. “Research shows full-day kindergarten is one of the keys to ensuring that students learn how to read. It also helps close the achievement gap and prevent delinquency later in school.”
The measure was ultimately tabled, with General Assembly leaders citing cost problems as the reason.
Students Need More Time
In Providence, the new contract that took effect at the beginning of the current school year extends the school day by five minutes. That trend will continue for the next three years, ultimately adding up to over 45 hours on increased instructional time.
City Councilman Sam Zurier, who heads up the Education Subcommittee, praised the teachers that work well beyond the hours required in their contract, but said a short school day still plagues the students of Providence.
“Many of Providence’s children have the good fortune to learn from dedicated teachers who volunteer their time beyond the minimum hours specified in the contract,” he said. “With that said, the short school day in Providence prevents the great majority of our children from having enough time to master their basic subjects, never mind receive a well-rounded education.”
If you valued this article, please LIKE GoLocalProv.com on Facebook by clicking HERE.
